Pecco Bagnaia, the Ducati GP26 restores his smile: real breakthrough or just an illusion?

Bagnaia couldn’t wait to try the 2026 Ducati, and the first day of testing in Malaysia was encouraging for the future.

His 2025 was a bit troubled and some questioned his value, but Francesco Bagnaia is convinced that in the new year he will be able to show his full potential. Even though there are rumors placing him out of the official Ducati team for 2027, the Borgo Panigale factory has worked intensively to meet his technical needs. On the first of the three days of MotoGP testing at Sepang he finished with the eighth fastest time overall, seven tenths behind the leader, his teammate Marc Marquez.

Interviewed by Sky Sport MotoGP at the end of the day, Pecco expressed satisfaction with the work done today in Malaysia: "We were able to put in several laps, in the morning on the medium and in the afternoon on the soft. We worked very well; everything we tried gave clear feedback. Fortunately, my feeling is very positive, especially with the front, under braking and on entry: that’s what we were looking for last year. For now, good. Then we focused on the new fairing, which has pros and cons. I set the same time with the old one and the new one, so as a start it’s positive."

Bagnaia had positive sensations with the new Ducati Desmosedici GP26, especially with the front end that gave him some trouble in 2025. Even though the first day of testing at Sepang was encouraging, he doesn’t want to get carried away: "The new bike has been refreshed in some areas — he commented — where they were able to intervene, but I felt good straight away. Fortunately, what seemed like a limitation last year doesn’t seem to be here. It’s true that this is a track where I’ve always been fast, so we have to take everything with a grain of salt, but I’m very relieved after this first day, because in terms of feeling I felt comfortable immediately."

The Ducati Lenovo MotoGP team rider also explained the work plan for the next two days of testing in Malaysia: "We’ll have other things to try, and then we’d also like to do a sprint simulation. On the third day we’ll do a time attack, which is fundamental and useful. I saw that several riders have already tried it, but today we were focused on running the tires and doing laps to better understand the new fairing in particular."

A smiling Bagnaia today at the Sepang International Circuit. He’s aware there’s still a lot of work to do, but starting preseason with a positive feeling is important. It must be said that last year in Malaysia he didn’t go badly, then in the second test at Buriram the problems began. Perhaps the next test in Thailand will tell the truth about Pecco’s situation.